2023 Winner – Yıldız Holding

Yıldız Holding is a leader in the Food and Retail sector operating on a global scale. Yıldız Holding also supports innovative ideas under the roof of Yıldız Hi-Tech Digital contributing to the entrepreneurship ecosystem. In 2022, Yildiz Holding joined forces with UN Women to mainstream gender into holdings policies, practices and programmes. Several programs are running in all subsidiaries aimed at empowering women at the workplace, marketplace and community, however, only those ones which are focusing on increasing number of women owned enterprises and their inclusion in the value chains. The Gender Responsive Procurement Program is supporting women-owned businesses across the value chain is critical to equal participation in economic opportunities. In this direction, Yıldız Holding, launched a new pilot program as part of strategic cooperation with UN Women's Entrepreneurship Accelerator. Yıldız Holding, as the pilot implementer for the Gender Responsive Procurement and Investment program, supports companies and the public to ensure equal participation of women by considering gender while purchasing services and goods. In the first year of the program, $1 million was spent on gender-sensitive procurement from agricultural entrepreneurs. In addition, 150,000 dollars were invested in women's entrepreneurship and leadership training and 4.3 million dollars were invested in 53 newly established women businesses.